Montana Sapphire

[Upgradable]

I was browsing at my friendly neighborhood jeweler this morning and we started chatting about colored stones. So he brought out several trays that have been languishing in the backroom. My eye went to a .96 oval teal colored Montana sapphire. It had beautiful dispersion, and was quite a bit more interesting (to my eyes) than the typical blue.

Has anyone else seen something like this? He''s got me considering a white gold pave that sets the stone off beautifully! Boy, it sure is fun to play with sparklies like this.

 

[strmrdr]

yep iv seen some like like that.
Very nice.
Im with you I like some of the more unusual colors better than some of the more expensive blues.

My advise is too snag it :}

 

[diamondsrock]

if the price is right I would go for it. I would love to see a teal blue sapphire. It sounds like something I would buy myself! If you buy and have it set, please post pics! I would love to see how it comes out.

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 6/15/2005 6:09:52 PM
Author:Upgradable
My eye went to a .96 oval teal colored Montana sapphire. It had beautiful dispersion, and was quite a bit more interesting (to my eyes) than the typical blue.

If you like the stone, its size, cut, color and price, what''s stopping you? There''s no law that all sapphires have to be a certain color. Many wonderful untreated gems like sapphire and spinel occur in lovely wearable "non-traditional" colors and they currently sell at bargain prices. With gems the only "rule" that makes sense to me is that the owner love and take great pleasure in any stone that''s priced fairly and presented accurately.

The Missouri River deposits have produced a rainbow of sapphire colors over many years. The Yogo Gulch in situ deposits have yielded very beautiful, 100% unzoned and untreated but pricey blue gems for over a century although they''re generally on the small side because the crystals tend to be thin.

The Missouri teals can be very pretty depending on the exact shade of color and cut. I''m not current on pricing but they should sell at a big discount from blues of Asian origin. A recent attempt to create a large-scale mining/marketing operation in Montana collapsed 2-3 years ago. Some stones were being heated by the company and may be on the market now in some quantity. Ask the seller.

If you can afford and want to own the finest unheated Kashmir-Burmese-Ceylon sapphire, more power to you. But I''ve never understood why lovely natural gems of perhaps lesser but very wearable color and quality don''t find a ready market. What a conversation piece you''d have!

 

[Upgradable]

The two of any size he had were the .96 and a 1.0 (not as pretty), and I know the Montana''s are smaller, but Pricescope has skewed my perspective (spoiled me) a bit, and I''d love to find one slightly larger.

I''m seriously considering it though. It''d be quite a beauty!

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 6/15/2005 7:42:55 PM
Author: Upgradable
I know the Montana's are smaller, but Pricescope has skewed my perspective (spoiled me) a bit, and I'd love to find one slightly larger.

Just to clarify, there are two kinds of Montana sapphire. The kind you're looking at is mined along the Missouri River. The other location, Yogo Gulch, produces small but world-class blue sapphires. You should be able to find a fine, large teal-colored Missouri River stone with a bit of looking.

I don't know this firm but it's been around a while and it seems to have the old-time merchandise. It might be a good place to begin.

 

[Sagebrush]

Upgradable,

Spent some time as a consultant training color sorters at American Gem Corporation before they went belly-up. Mad e a few bucks consulting then made the mistake of buying their stock, but thats another story. Someone (an expert from Israel) told the company president that some of his blues were Burma and Kashmir quality so he asked me to come and tell him what I thought. Well, after reviewing 16,000 stones, a whole week''s work by nine sorters, I found one 0.95 that qualified as low end fine.

They had about 3 million carats of cut stones at the time, so got to see the range. Most of the blue sapphire from Gem Mountain, Eldorado Bar, etc., as Michael suggests is heat treated. The Most of this material is also greenish or "teal" if you like. Some pretty, uncommon colors, so, as they say, if you like the stone...

Might disagree a bit with Michael on the "world class" aspect of Yogo material. Have seen one or two that qualify but mostly they have a "steely" read slightly grayish mask that disqualifies them from the above classification.

 

[Upgradable]

Thanks so much, both of you, for the input. Perspectives like yours available to consumer "joe''s" like me are one of the fabulous aspects of Pricescope!

Any suggestions on vendors I might approach about some of these larger teal stones? I stopped at my jeweler today and he was out, but I''ll be speaking to him regarding his suppliers access. I haven''t yet contacted Richard M.''s suggestion, but did peruse the site. I''m really excited about owning a "home grown" gem.

 

[The Joker]

Upgradable:

You might try here for Montana Sapphires.

http://www.sapphiremine.com/faceting.htm

Joker....

 

[Richard M.]

Upgradable,

Check out Rare Stone

They have what appears to be a fairly clean 1.14 ct. heated Montana blue as well as other choices. They cut this one themselves and their cutting is usually very good. I know this company and can recommend it.

Richard M.

 

[Upgradable]

This one looks rather promising. What do you think?

*edit: sorry, the link doesn't take you right to the stone. You can search BG056

 

[ZoeKids]

Has anyone heard of this organization to certify the authenticity of a Yogo Sapphire?

http://www.gemstoneindex.com/

The Yogo stone we purchase, which we can send back if it doesn''t meet our standards, came with a certificate from this organization. However, we purchased it from

http://www.sapphire-untreated.com/index.htm

And, you know what .... both companies have the same phone number. It feels a little like nepotsim.

Mary

 

[Sagebrush]

If you want a certification of origin, you might ask AGTA. With Dick Hughes at the helm they might be willing to take that on.